Midwest Communities Rally for Climate Action at Chicago EPA Listening Session
Friday, November 8, 2013
Contact: Emily Rosenwasser, Emily.Rosenwasser@sierraclub.org, 312-251-1680 x119
CHICAGO – Today hundreds of residents from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin testified at the regional Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) office in Chicago, calling on officials to enact the strongest possible limits on carbon pollution from coal- and gas-fired power plants. Hundreds of parents, community leaders, public health advocates and clean energy innovators spoke directly to EPA staff and at a rally on the harsh effects of climate disruption in their communities.
Carbon pollution is the main cause of climate disruption. The Midwest has been hard-hit by the impacts of climate disruption with damaging droughts, floods and Lake Michigan water levels at historic lows.
“If the clean air protections are strong enough, then rich fossil fuel companies will no longer get a free pass to pollute,” said Kim Wasserman with Little Village Environmental Justice Organization in Chicago. “They won’t be able to dump unlimited amounts of climate pollution into our air anymore.”
Coal- and gas-fired power plants are the country’s biggest carbon polluters, which means that in order to address climate disruption, the EPA must issue strong carbon standards on power plants. Power plants are also responsible for life-threatening air pollution like smog, which triggers asthma attacks and other respiratory issues.
Locally, Chicago has taken on a leadership role as a large city addressing climate disruption, officially phasing out the Fisk and Crawford coal-fired power plants in Pilsen and Little Village in 2012. These coal-fired power plants were the last operating coal plants within the city limits.
“Communities like Chicago have taken the lead on fighting climate disruption by demanding clean air, retiring coal plants and pushing for greater investments in local clean energy,” said Mary Anne Hitt, Director of the Sierra Club Beyond Coal campaign. “As parents, grandparents and neighbors, we know we have an obligation to our children to create a better future. That is why the EPA must set strong limits to cut carbon from power plants, which are our nation’s biggest polluters and our number one source of climate disrupting carbon pollution.”
“I stand here with clean energy businesses, who are creating jobs in the technologies of the future, and who are ready to do so much more,” said Illinois State Senator Mike Frerichs (D-Gifford). “They are ready to invest more in our state, and hire more of our workers. I stand here with people across Illinois who want to breathe clean air, and move to energy sources that don’t threaten the health of their children, and the future of our planet.”
“Air pollution from power plants causes acute effects on public health and the long-lasting health impacts of climate disruption put our health at an even greater risk,” said Dr. Susan Buchanan, Director of Great Lakes Children’s Environmental Health Program at UIC School of Public Health. “As temperatures rise, the most vulnerable communities in Illinois will be exposed to conditions that can result in more illness and death due to asthma and respiratory illness, heat- and weather-related stress and disease carried by insects. This is why it is vital to take action now and place limits on dangerous carbon pollution.”
Climate disruption also means big costs for Americans both economically and environmentally. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, last year alone Americans spent over $140 billion as a result of devastating droughts, raging wildfires, tragic floods, record heat and powerful storms. That’s $1,110 per American.
According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, climate disruption negatively affects agriculture in the Midwest. Warmer temperatures in winter mean more pests and crop diseases can survive farther north. Wetter springs will increase erosion and can mean crops have to be planted later. Summers will likely be hotter and drier, causing stress on growing plants. Climate disruption could cost the agricultural sector in Illinois as much as $9.3 billion per year.
“Farmers are seeing the impacts of climate change in our fields,” said Keith Bolin, farmer and wind energy developer from Bureau County, Illinois. “Wind energy is part of the solution to climate change, and wind boosts our farming communities as we face years of droughts, unpredictable crop yields and other uncertainty. The wind industry employs thousands of people here in Illinois, and counties like mine have made Illinois a national clean energy leader.”
“We have the solutions and a moral obligation to address climate change for future generations,” said Brian Sauder, Policy Director at Faith in Place & the IL Interfaith Power & Light Campaign. “The EPA must follow through with those solutions and place strong limits on dangerous carbon pollution from power plants.”
“Introducing strong carbon pollution standards gives us an opportunity to modernize our communities and create more clean energy jobs,” said Katie Mimnaugh, student leader at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “It is a win-win for our future here in Illinois.”
“As we work to address carbon emissions from coal plants around the country we must also work to continue our transition to a clean energy economy,” said Brandon Leavitt, President of Solar Service. “In our country, a solar panel is installed every four minutes. If we focus our future on these cleaner resources we can create thousands of good paying, skilled, local jobs and build a safer future for our communities.”
“With 97% of Scientists telling us that Climate Change is a real, we commend the EPA for proposing the first ever limits on carbon pollution from power plants” said Organizing for Action Chicago Chapter Lead Bob Stephens. “It is time to act on climate change.”
The broad coalition organizing today’s event in support of EPA’s newly proposed carbon pollution standards for existing power plants included health advocates, business owners, faith leaders, clean energy supporters, and conservationists:
Alliance for the Great Lakes, Blue Green Alliance, CNT Energy, Central Illinois Healthy Community Alliance, Chicago Youth Climate Coalition, Chicago Clean Power Coalition, Chicago Environmental Justice Alliance, Citizens Against Ruining the Environment (CARE), Clean Power Lake County Coalition, Delta Institute, Environmental Law & Policy Center, Environment Illinois, Faith in Place & the IL Interfaith Power & Light Campaign, Illinois Environmental Council, Illinois Solar Energy Association, Illinois Student Environmental Council, League of Women Voters, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, Mom’s Clean Air Force, Moms Rising, Natural Resources Defense Council, National Wildlife Federation, Organizing for Action-Illinois, People for Community Recovery, Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Prairie Rivers Network, Respiratory Health Association, The Sierra Club, Students for Environmental Concerns UIUC, Southeast Environmental Taskforce, Union of Concerned Scientists
